The Convo top ten – the early edition

It’s nearly Easter, so we’re publishing our round-up early this week. Dive in for a taste of this week’s stories, from investigations into care homes and supermarket packaging to opinions on ebook piracy and Spotify.

Sarah Kidner says that ‘people will only seek illegal routes if they think the legitimate ones aren’t delivering on their promises’. Many of you agreed, but author Rachel Caine has a different slant. ‘All we have is the books [which] are being stolen to make money for someone else,’ she says.

From underfilled vitamin tubs to a biscuit packet that weighs 10 times more than an identical product, we’ve found some crazy examples of overpackaging in our investigation. But who’s responsible for cutting back?

How high is the quality of care in care homes, and how can you complain when you think it’s sub-standard? Our undercover actors went into four homes to find out what really goes on – do the results match your experiences?

The Spotify ‘free ride’ is over as they’re limiting the amount of free music we can listen to. It’s a move that’s divided music lovers. ‘I’m not willing to pay for what effectively mounts to music “rental”,’ says Emily, but Rover thinks ‘we need to pay our dues for a brave and innovative business model’.

Do you know the difference between “best before” and “use by” dates? According to ministers, many don’t, which is why they’re looking to change the system. But will ditching dates result in less food waste?

The abolition of cheques is being reconsidered – something that Which? Convo commenters have been calling on for months. But not everyone wants to keep cheques, like ISC: ‘I’ve not written a cheque for 18 months; I don’t particularly see why I should subsidise the costs for other users’, he complains.

Claiming compensation when your train is late is no easy task, as Richard Dilks investigates. Not only do companies offer different entitlements, some even change them for different bits of their network. Have you had trouble claiming money back?